It took awhile to find the real reason that the Masjid Aqsa mosque is being evicted: ‘Non-Payment of Rent since September 2012′
NY Times The Masjid Aqsa on Frederick Douglass Boulevard near West 116th Street has been crammed into its run-down, rented space for about 16 years, serving the mostly West African congregation of about 1,200. But now, after a persistent rent dispute with its landlord, the mosque finds itself in housing court facing eviction. Its lease agreement expired Sept. 30. Back rent has accumulated. Yet the mosque has stubbornly remained.
But in articles as current as yesterday, we are still hearing that the mosque is being unfairly pushed out. Columbia Spectator After more than 16 years of serving the Muslim communities in New York in New Jersey, Masjid Aqsa, a local mosque located Frederick Douglass Boulevard between 115th and 116th streets, is facing an eviction order from its landlord.
On one side of Frederick Douglass between 115th and 116th streets sit the newly completed Livmor Condominiums, where a two-bedroom unit sells for $1.2 million. On the other side is the Masjid Aqsa mosque, its green awning tucked between an alleyway tire shop and a Guinean convenience store.
Masjid Aqsa opened more than 16 years ago in a Harlem that was very different from today’s gentrifying neighborhood. But developers are now looking to evict the mosque and build more apartments to meet the ever-growing demand for housing.
“They want to evict us,”, the mosque’s imam, said. “They want to just destroy this building.”
Imam Souleimane Konaté
The landlord, 2136 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, LLC, filed an order of eviction for months of unpaid rent, the New York Times reported last month. On Wednesday, Konaté said that the mosque was awaiting a court decision but was not facing any “financial difficulties.” (Of course not, he hasn’t paid any rent for the past 5 months) The next court date is Jan. 31.
For the 1,500 congregation members, however, the pending court decision means that a hub of Little Senegal, one of the city’s largest African neighborhoods, hangs in the balance. “Closing this place down, that means there will be no African community,” Konaté said. “Some people will come from Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, even New Jersey, because the service here is perfect.”
Joseph Rabizadeh, the plaintiff in the case against the mosque and the CEO of the company that owns the building according to public records, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“If this mosque moves, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Amadou Doumbia, a Bronx resident from Cote d’Ivoire who has been coming to Masjid Aqsa for the past 11 years and said he attends every prayer session. “Maybe the whole community will want to move.” (Maybe that’s the idea?)
“It’s not just only prayer here,” Konaté said. “We’re defending Africans when it comes to immigration, police, health, financial issues.” “We’re teaching people good manners … how to be good citizens, how to prevent crime, how to vote,” he added.
The mosque sits in the middle of a stretch of Harlem that has changed considerably in recent years. Konaté said he’s not surprised by the changes. “When you walk down the street, you see 10 churches,” Ayman said. “It’s important for us to have this one place.”
Get out freeloaders! May you be pushed all the way back to your own homelands islamists.
Harlem once spelled with 2 A”s was once the place to live. Only the veery wealthy lived there. good idea to do reclamation in NYC once the mosque is evicted maybe the Muslims will be deported back to Senegal where they belong
dragon, Yes, Harlem was the home of the biggest mansions and townhomes owned by the most wealthy New Yorkers. As they migrated to the suburbs, the domestic help stayed in the area, eventually turning Harlem into the filthy, crime-ridden slum it was for so many decades. But the great bones of the former slums are still there and people are now renovating them to restore the great architecture, gradually replacing the slum dwellers as they do.
He should have taught them to pay their bloody rent as well then lol! Squeeze the bastards out, no one likes them!
“He should have taught them to pay their bloody rent…”
Who? The perfect exemplar mohammed?
Apparently 2136 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, LLC doesn’t yet realize that they have become dhimmis and are expected to pay the jizya.
Nice to hear. When we don´t pay our rent we are kicked out from our rent spaces and it is for sure the same for those idiots.
If there are ten churshes they are of course so many christians around this area and they are not having any use for that bullmosq.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe that building owners in Manhattan have, in the last 50 years, thrown out renters many, many times, in order to remodel/rebuild to make a profit on their own property.
Did you notice the pet supply sign with a dog above the halal meat place? You’d think they would have rioted over that.
Liz, the lease was up, they didn’t renew and didn’t pay rent, more than enough reasons to kick them out.
to evict the mosque and build more apartments …
We need Beds not Prayer Mats!
Dirty muslimist scum always blaming whitey the jews and christians for there problems booo hooo
If 1500 muslimes gather there on a regular basis you would think they could collect enough amongst themselves to pay their —-ing rent!!…….Oh yeah, I forget, we infidels owe it to them as jizya!…Up yours: you filtyhy stinking muslime asshats!!….I hope they kick your sorry worthless asses all the way back to West Africa, or whatever Pislamic hell hole you crawled out of!!
Use the rule of law for people who do not pay their rent. Tear down the filthy hole and build an apartment building.